Pained Vision
by Jose Philipe Mendola
Summary: A short story about a wounded blind prophet, told only as Metallica can. Fic based on enter Sandman. Please, R&R.


Pained Vision  
Jose Philipe Mendola  
  
Legal notice: I don't own any of the characters out of the Magic world, nor do I have permission to be using their names. ALSO, I don't own, am related to, hold stock in, or personally know ANY members of Metallica. I am using their song illegally and without permission from them or their record label. We all know how much they suck when it comes to 'sharing' music, so please, don't tell them or drop any lines to them telling them about what you are about to read. I really don't want Lars kicking my ass.  
  
Authors Note: I had seen this done once with a Marlyn Manson song and Digimon, and I wanted to try out my skills out here working off the same page. Bare with me on this one kids.  
  
There was a story during the time of the Weatherlight and the Phyrexian war where the crew had come into a small battle and lived with only a few casualties. Of those injured in the skirmish was a blind prophet that they had picked up in a city. HE had not been injured too badly, but enough to be taken into Orim's care in sickbay. He had a minor injury to his leg and head while fending off rebels in a small alleyway. He and the rest were taken back to the Weatherlight and put into the care of the ships healer. She was a skilled woman, and she usually spent her time below decks tending t any minor or major injuries acquired by those on board.  
  
Orim was below decks when the first few injured were brought in. She quickly put them on the appropriate beds to be treated as soon as possible. She had a knack for soothing shaken minds as well. a few comforting words, and the patient was already much more calm.  
  
When the blind Prophet was escorted into the sick bay, he headed right for the next mattress Orim was going to put him on. She was also about to comfort him with words, but she heard him praying to whomever he believed in.  
  
Say your prayers little one  
  
don't forget, my son  
  
to include everyone  
  
As soon as he was laid down on the mattress, Orim rested a blanket on him.  
  
'No need for you to waste body heat.' she said to him. She also put a pillow under his injured head. 'There. If Hannah decided to throw a few twists or way, you wont feel too much worse.'  
  
Orim examined his head. It was a fairly large cut, probably made by a forcible hit. no doubt it hurt some. Orim walked to her cabinet that was filled with medicines and herbs. It was also housing a few vials of multi colored liquids. She grabbed one of the tubes and some sea slat out of one of the containers. She measured out a small amount of the salt and added it to the liquid. The substance went from a yellow liquid to a light blue. C'ho Manno magic worked wonders for healing.  
  
Orim walked back to the prophet and applied it to his head wound.  
  
'There.' She said 'stay there until the medicine kicks in. You'll feel it when it does.'  
  
Tuck you in; warm within  
  
Keep you free from sin  
  
till the sandman he comes  
  
The prophet 'looked' in Orim's direction and smiled. She smiled back; happy to see he was still awake.  
  
'Now don't you fall asleep on me.' She warned the seer.  
  
He nodded lightly and rested his head gently on the pillow again.  
  
'Gotta hold out.' he told himself 'got to get a grip.'  
  
Sleep with one eye open  
  
gripping your pillow tight  
  
Suddenly, the seer lost all feeling to the world. He went from the feeling of a pillow and blanket on a mattress to the chill of a familiar inky void. The void of worlds. Void between time and worlds.  
  
'Please.' He said to no one 'Not now.' having a vision always drained him of his energy, and it seemed to thrive on the condition of his body. If he were in good health, the vision would be strong and make sense. If he was sick, he would get a fractured vision and see only still images, or ideas run together. But this head wound. what would it do to him?  
  
The blackness was fading now. getting smaller. A woman in white robes reached for his hand. It was his late wife. She had died not too many years after their joining. It was hart breaking to see her only in a vision. it happened every time.  
  
'Tobias.' she said to him 'come with me! Follow me and see what I found! Look! Do you see it?' she was always talking about his visions, as if they were sharing one, and she was the first to find it. He, like every time, let her grab his hand and take him into time and space, to see what it is, what it has become, and what it shall be.  
  
Exit light  
  
Enter night  
  
Take my hand  
  
Off to Never Never land  
  
Wait. where did she go? She was with him a second ago. The visionary looked around the empty space of nothingness. She was gone. He felt the sudden feelings of dread and despair all around him. As if he was being assaulted with them. a sudden flash of light stole his vision from him. He tried to shield his eyes from it, but he could still see it.  
  
Then the light snapped off. He was in the black of nothing again, only this time with the weight of despair on him. As if all his sorrow of a whole lifetime was pushing him from the inside out. Where did his wife go? She could make him feel better.. Rid him of these feelings.  
  
Something's wrong, shut the light  
  
Heavy thoughts tonight  
  
And they aren't of snow white  
  
Tobias was suddenly standing on frozen tundra. He looked around him. It was snowing lightly, and the few trees around him showed signs of winds. Strangely, he did not feel a thing. Looking to his right, he saw columns of smoke curling upward into the sky. They looked like campfires burning just over the hill on that side. Tobias looked to his left. There was, what looked like, a black carpet spreading over the land. But, it was moving.  
  
Something in Tobias's mind twitched and he was now in the middle of a battlefield. He jumped a little, startled, but regained his feet when he saw a spear fly through his being. He was indeed on a field, out of time, but he was only there in mind. Again looking around, he could now make out the races doing battle.  
  
One was a mix of Keldon, a race only stories told of. But what were these with them? Other races of humans and human like creatures? They were not raising sword or ax at one another, but fighting alongside one another. Keldon's never did this. they were barbarians of the ancient world. Ancient world!? Was Tobias witnessing the battle of Ice Age? He looked around again. An undead monstrosity tore a head off a Keldon. It bellowed its rage being stabbed with a sword, and moved on to kill again.  
  
Keldon doing battle with the undead. It was the Ice Age. And this was the final battle of it. the only thing missing was.  
  
A large platform rolled up behind Tobias and the lord of the undead was there himself. Lim Dul. Lim Dul was the reason this war started. he had started an alliance with many tribes and shattered them only to destroy them. A world-class traitor.  
  
Tobias looked to the sky for comfort, and saw only more problems. Lim Dul had a reach of control far over the land, but no one ever wrote about him having power over the mountain and it's creatures. Three dead dragons swooped from the sky and let loose a torrent of flame among the Banded tribes. Many were incinerated instantly, others more slowly. Dragon's aiding Lim Dul in death. Was there no end to this torment?  
  
Tobias saw an undead creature, mostly mouth and fangs, jump onto a Keldon and begin to tear him apart. It was a gruesome sight. He turned his head away. He may not have really been there, and this may not be real, but it sure looked real.  
  
Dreams of war, dreams of liars  
  
Dreams of dragon's fire  
  
and of things that will bite  
  
The image snapped again and all he saw again was black nothingness. Out of the black void, he heard Orim's words again say  
  
'Don't fall asleep on me.'  
  
'Have to stay awake.' he said to himself. 'Have to hold on to consciousness.'  
  
Sleep with one eye open  
  
gripping your pillow tight  
  
Tobias saw the same bright light explode in front of him. It was too bright to look directly at, and it took him by surprise. Again shielding his eyes did no good. The light lasted for a few more seconds, and was gone. In place of it, his dead wife reaching for him again.  
  
'C'mon.' she said to him 'it's time to leave. We've already seen this.'  
  
Exit light  
  
Enter night  
  
Take my hand  
  
Off to Never Never land  
  
Again, like always, he was ripped from, the battlefield far below and was in tow being dragged through the Blind Ages and many other placed never seen by other humans. He was on his way back.  
  
He knew of what happened next. Pain. A lot of it. The only way to see through it was to pray. Pray that his gods would protect him from the pain that would come next. He began with a simple prayer, and kept going with it while his spirit being was being led through alternate dimensions of life and death.  
  
Now I lay me down to sleep  
  
Pray the lord my soul to keep  
  
if I die before I wake  
  
Pray the lord my soul to take  
  
It was pain to see the worlds go flying past. He heard nothing but cosmic winds tearing past his body. All his inner emotions, hidden and other, were pouring forth in painful torrents. All his anger, pain and suffering. it was all spilling out of his celestial being. Like he was being torn apart from the inside. So much wind and other things pulling at him. his brain hurt worse of all. His head felt as if many tons of pressure were stacked on all sides. His memories, both bad and good, happy and sad came into focus many at a time. Many monsters in the recesses of his brain. Things he had never wanted to see. Never wanted to remember. it was horrible. If the wounds would not kill him, then may by this would.  
  
Hush little baby, don't say a word  
  
And never mind that noise you heard  
  
It's just the beast under your bed,  
  
in your closet, in your head  
  
Tobias opened his eyes again. He could see lights flying past his mind, followed by dark. More and more lights were going past him, some through him. The pain in his head was receding. The medicine must be kicking in now. he was feeling better little by little, almost like a dying pain.  
  
Exit light  
  
Enter night  
  
Grain of sand  
  
Tobias could feel himself fall back into his body in the hold of Weatherlight. He could feel the chill of sickbay, the weight of a blanket on him. He could hear the movement of others around him, and the talking of those already recovered. Some time must have past while he was traveling. Possibly a day or two?  
  
'Almost like being asleep.' He said 'And living through one bad dream.' his head cleared, and he could swear he could still hear his wife's voice. Still see her outline on a field of black. And bright lights. It was always the same. He always saw her after his trip, and could always hear her. This would, no doubt about it, one day kill him.  
  
'Someday.' He said to himself. 'Someday I will see you again.'  
  
Authors final Words: well kids, this was my first attempt at mixing song lyrics with a fic. Like it, think I had a bad idea to begin with? Want to band with me and make an Anti-Metallica movement? You read it, I hope, so now review it. Need feedback.. Must have feedback.. 


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